University of California President Mark G. Yudof announced today (Nov. 8) that he has selected Nicholas B. Dirks, Columbia University’s executive vice president and dean of the faculty for Arts and Sciences, as the 10th chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley.

Dirks, 61, the Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and History at Columbia and the author of three books on India, emerged as the top candidate after a six-month search process. An advisory committee of UC faculty, students, staff, regents, alumni and foundation representatives was involved in screening applicants and conducting interviews.

Stay tuned for more exciting Cal news! (Such as the fact that the Bears NCAA basketball team is leading the Pacific TIgers 59-50 in the DirecTV Classic tournament in Anaheim.)

4 thoughts on “New Cal Chancellor, Nick Dirks”

Just to get you into the right frame of mind for what follows, here is an old Hindu saying…

“He who learns without real understanding fails to benefit; just as the spoon does not taste the sweetness of honey”

BZ to Nicholas B. Dirks, Columbia University’s executive vice president and dean of the faculty for Arts and Sciences, the 10th chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley.

He also wrote three books on India one of which I have one on my bookshelf
‘The Scandal of Empire: India and the Creation of Imperial Britain’ by Nicholas B. Dirks. (A very good read).

I have a selection of books on 18th Century India that provide a fascinating insight into British Imperialism and the days of the British Raj. The attraction of which came about through old war stories told by my Fathers brother who served there in 1947, when India was partitioned into two countries. (Raw barbaric bloody carnage ensued resulting in an estimated 1 million deaths of men women & children).

The Viceroy of India was Lord Mountbatten of Burma. ‘Mountbatten’ was a visionary who, with the British government, recognised the smoking embers of civil war between the Muslim’s and Hindus/Sikhs.

Partition was the religious demographic solution, thus Pakistan & India were formed and divided forever more. Mountbatten’ also recognized the Islamic ‘problem’ forming within the Muslim world; an Indian ally was the much preferred option within the Indian subcontinent.

(Judge for yourself which country has prospered over the other)?

Academics (who should know better) tend to view history and apply today’s standards as a yardstick for their critical measurement. When in fact the standards of the past were the standards of the day, and as such were accepted ‘honourably’ worldwide.

What Nicholas B. Dirks picks up as failings and faults throughout his book can be applied to any modern day country offering support to a lesser fortunate one; (who through coincidence, would be rolling in oil, precious metals and minerals).

History repeats itself (and the wheels on the bus go round and round, all day long).

“Look at the clouds how they roll on, Look at us, how soon we’re gone”
Hindu Saying…

Ah, I posted this thinking: here is a story no one will really care about. How wrong was I. Academics, I knew, would find it interesting. “Look at the clouds how they roll on, Look at us, how soon we’re gone. . .” Great quote.

Well, EB, as the clouds roll by…that’s an older 1940snHollywood movie, just for connectivity’s sake…and that is precisely the reason the current president of the US cannot and will not tolerate Great Britain…because of the imperialism of the country in the past…not what it stands for today and the very reason he also despises the US…for its perceived imperialism no matter how mis-identified this in reality is….sad to say, history does repeat itself and claims the mantle of intellectual superiority and discourse, however wrongly….academe today is actually ignorance on parade…I noticed that in recent events that led to the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi…that deer-in-headlights look of Hillary Clinton in particular tells me that this was a disappointment of tremendous magnitude and a look of sheer stupidity and betrayal….she couldn’t disguise that and Obama just looked angry….I am more fascinated by the thought ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ than just about any other ‘meme’ out there…how about you???….k

Imagine! Bezerkeley going to Columbia for tenured talent! Shocka! As long as we’re throwin’ quotes around – “The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” – Thucydides. (Like Twain, I’ve never allowed my schooling to interfere with my education.) A Hoffer in the hopper as I exit – “In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists. ”
Eric Hoffer